Page 33 of A Letter to the Last House Before the Sea

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Corey walked towards her, his face set and a warm breeze ruffling his hair which just reached the neckline of his grey Aran jumper. He looked ruggedly handsome and, for a brief moment, Lettie wondered what it would feel like to be held against his chest, before giving her head a shake.

Yes, he was good-looking and charismatic, but he was also bad-tempered and suspicious of her. It didn’t help, she realised, that he’d come across her here on the very land that Simon was trying so hard to get his hands on.

‘Good afternoon. I thought I’d come up here for a walk because I understand lots of tourists do.’

She winced. That sounded far too formal and defensive.

‘Good afternoon,’ he answered with the slightest raise of an eyebrow. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt your phone call.’

‘That’s all right. It was only my sister and I was quite glad to say goodbye.’

‘Is everything all right?’

‘Absolutely fine.’

‘That’s good.’

He gazed across the sea, his face in profile.

‘Though I seem to be letting my family down by daring to be away for a few days.’

Why had she said that? She seemed to be the queen of unnecessary comments today, but Corey’s mouth quivered as though he might actually crack a smile.

‘Do they rely on you?’ he asked, turning to look at her.

‘Yep, my sister relies on me for childcare and my mother for shopping trips. And my brother relies on me to do all these things so he doesn’t have to.’

‘Happy families.’ He shuffled his feet. ‘I’ve been hoping to see you, actually. I wanted to thank you for helping my grandmother yesterday.’

This was surprising. If anything, Lettie had expected to be told off for pestering Florence again.

‘I was happy to. She was in danger of losing her shopping.’ Lettie paused, wondering if it was wise to bring up their subsequent disagreement. ‘I’m surprised she mentioned me at all. I don’t seem to be her favourite person.’

It was Corey’s turn to wince. ‘Was she abrupt?’

Lettie remembered the front door slamming in her face. ‘You could say that.’

He frowned slightly. ‘Gran’s not usually rude. I’m not sure what’s going on.’

‘Me neither. It’s all a bit of a mystery.’ She hesitated. ‘I saw your great-uncle’s name on the village war memorial.’

‘Cornelius?’

‘Yes. Your gran mentioned him to me. Briefly. It’s so sad that he died in the war.’

‘That was way before my time, obviously, but I know the family were devastated. He’s buried in some foreign field.’

‘I suppose he used to walk here a lot on the headland.’

‘I expect so. Gran said he loved it up here.’

‘I expect he’d sit for ages, watching the sea.’

Corey gave Lettie a sideways glance. ‘I don’t know. Probably.’

‘Your gran must have been heartbroken when he died.’